“We had a great start to the trip as we were able to get situated at a decent spot and able to start picking away at good grade fish. It was nothing crazy but we kept a couple of fish hooked all afternoon. We certainly had our share of heartbreaks but we also enjoyed plenty of happy endings. Matt Hefflinger took big fish honors with a 234-pounder, but in addition Pete, Clyde and BS also able entered the big fish club with low twos that weighed from 204 to 209. The average fish was very nice as the rest were 100-195 pounds.”

Lower Zone Report

“We've been fishing the lower zone for the last couple of days,” posted Excel skipper Mike Ramirez February 10, “and we have been able to scratch away at some decent fish. The mornings have definitely been the best bite time but we are still able to pick a few in the afternoon. Most of the fish are in the 80 to 120-pound class with a handful of 140 to 180-pounders in the mix. There has also been a little wahoo around. We still have a few more days here. Wish us luck.”

On February 12, Ramirez posted: “Today was the last day down in the lower zone. The first fish hit the deck around 0500 and didn't slow down till about 0830. When the dust settled we ended up with one cow, ( Bill Lynd with a 202) a handful of 170-pounders and several in the 80 to 130-pound class, a great way to end the trip. We will be traveling up the line for the next few days. The weather looks good.”

Bombing ‘Hoos

“We had a very good day here on the Intrepid,” reported skipper Bill Cavanaugh February 7. “Our morning was busy with steady action on 60 to 90-pound tuna. Unfortunately, we did not have any fish over 100 pounds for our morning. That changed in the afternoon. After our morning shot, we located some wahoo and had good, fast-paced action. The Ron Huth "Bullet Bombs" were working really good. In the afternoon we located an area of better-sized tuna and kept one to three fish hooked until dark. The tuna this afternoon were 80 to 160 pounds and we ended up with eight fish between 130 and 160 pounds; a very good day of fishing. We are staying here tonight.”

Catching’s Good

“The first day of fishing brought excellent results,” posted Dharyl Shelbourne for Royal Polaris February 12. We didn’t arrive in time for the morning bite and started off seeing if any wahoo wished to come aboard. 25 of them decided to accept our invitation and several were in the extra-large category. What a great start!

“When we started to target tuna, results were close to the same with 21 Yellowfin landed. The majority were in the 120 to 150 class and the big fish honors go to Andre McCollough who landed a taped, 183 Yellowfin, off the kite. Our official certified scale is off somewhere being repaired, so all weights this trip will be tape-estimated, until we return to Fisherman’s Landing.

“Jack Nilsen offered up a lure pack, for the first wahoo, and a pair of Accurate Piranha rigging pliers for largest tuna over 150. Both prizes were won by John Collins, who was on fire for both species today. There are several passengers who are on their first trip of this duration and even though we had no cows for the day, Sam Lewin, Pat Hickman, and Bruce Wurth all got their personal bests today with tuna over 100 pounds.

“Bait fishing and kite fishing both produced and needless to say we’re in no hurry to leave here after today’s results. Tonight we’ll try and get some bigger baits for the kite and we’ll be at it long before the sun rises to test out the morning bite tomorrow. All in all, it was just what the Dr. ordered, to work out the nervous energy we’ve been storing up since we left. No problems, no complaints, and not even a significant tangle today. It’ll be a tough act to follow tomorrow but we’ll see if we can top it with a full day of fishing.”

On Valentine’s Day the posting read: “Fishing was already good, but today, it got even better! The morning bite was quite slow except for Kathy Rounds’ kite fish. I guess it took a feminine touch to bring the first cow on board as she landed a 202. For most of the day a combination of wind and no current made getting a bait out difficult and frustrating and relatively few fish were landed that way. The kite however, had no such problems and began going off in earnest just before lunch and produced steadily throughout the day. We went through the entire rotation and Kathy even caught a second fish from it eventually.”

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